Tourism agency hails rise in visitors and revenues

Visitors numbers have risen and with the amount spent during their stay

Published:17:49Thursday 25 May 2017

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Tourism Ireland has welcomed a rise in visitor numbers and an increase in the amount spent as government statitics revealed a record 2.1 million overseas visitors came to Northern Ireland last year.

The figure from the Statistics and Research Agency marks a 9% increase - almost 168,000 people - more than 2015 who between them spent more than £543 million, a rise of 12% over the year before.

“Visitor numbers from mainland Europe grew by 15%, from GB by 7% and from North America by 9%,” said Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons.

“Overseas visitors delivered more than £543 million for the local economy, up 12%. Overseas holidaymakers increased by 15% in 2016 – a continuation of the positive trend since 2011, which has seen overseas holiday visitors grow by 58.7% and overseas holiday revenue by 79.5%.”

To ensure further growth, he said the agency was rolling out an extensive programme of promotions throughout 2017, to highlight Northern Ireland around the world.